[Slow Ben]

Mentalist, on 26 August 2023 - 12:34 AM, said:

Starting to suspect I tweaked smth in my R shoulderblade. Been twinging on and off for the past few weeks. Swimming isn't fixing it.

On the bright side, the insane amount of hauling heavy crap I had to do last weekend for set-up/takedown of the Uki festival didn't make it worse, at least.

Ments back baby!

[worry]

Ha!

[Cause]

I don’t think I’m the crazy one but a friend and I are going to a LUXURY resort/game reserve for two night. He wouldn’t book the room until he confirmed they had ac and heating in the room. Now he plans to bring a case of bottled water to the resort.

I tried explaining that a luxury resort will have drinkable water and if they didn’t they would provide some. There is a restaurant on-site and meals are included not to mention I have zero doubt there would be a store on site too.

Just struck me as crazy. Maybe I’m too laid back but lately it seems everyone I know is trying to micromanage things like plain seats, restaurant orders etc to a degree that’s just unecessary.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Cause, on 28 August 2023 - 07:24 PM, said:

I don't think I'm the crazy one but a friend and I are going to a LUXURY resort/game reserve for two night. He wouldn't book the room until he confirmed they had ac and heating in the room. Now he plans to bring a case of bottled water to the resort.

I tried explaining that a luxury resort will have drinkable water and if they didn't they would provide some. There is a restaurant on-site and meals are included not to mention I have zero doubt there would be a store on site too.

Just struck me as crazy. Maybe I'm too laid back but lately it seems everyone I know is trying to micromanage things like plain seats, restaurant orders etc to a degree that's just unecessary.

If it's good enough for the wild animals, the old pond is good enough for ye....

Seriously though, they might provide some for a hefty fee... might be included with meals, but it's generally a good idea to read the fine print and learn the exact details. Plenty of 'LUXURY' cons; be prepared for them to try to squeeze as much out of you as they can, especially if most of their clientele are wealthy (or carefree or careless enough not to care much)....

From a cost standpoint, it might make more sense to bring alcohol, if you're going to drink (... alcohol). If it's in the United States the tap water is contaminated in many places; IDK how common it is for 'luxury' game reserves to filter their water, or provide complimentary bottled water.

Quote

Nearly half of the tap water in the US is contaminated with 'forever chemicals,' government study finds

[...] There's been almost no place scientists have looked where they have not found PFAS,"

Nearly half of the tap water in the US is contaminated with 'forever chemicals,' government study finds | CNN

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 29 August 2023 - 06:45 PM

[Macros]

Man alive I am tired.
Had the wedding party at the weekend, HD international guests in for a few days as well.
Back to work today. Woof I'm tired

[Mentalist]

Sliced my left thumb making salad 2 days ago.

Annoyingly, need to wait a few days before swimming again.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Cut my knuckle doing righteous battle with a fly. (It was on my bathroom cabinet mirror---swatted it gently (with the flyswatter), and while I hit it it managed to escape and hide. So later when I saw it on the mirror again I whacked it harder, killing it, but slamming my fist into the bottom edge of the cabinet---probably the metal part.) Washed it, put on some antibiotic ointment and wrangled a bandage onto it (knuckle where the finger meets the hand), cutting off the extraneous parts.

Next morning right after I put a bit more antibiotic ointment on I remembered that it can irritate the skin, and wondered if that could slow healing. Lo and behold:

Quote

Although our immune systems and the nonpathogenic microorganisms living within our bodies play critical roles in repairing and regenerating our skin’s structure, the precise interaction between the two has been unclear.

In a small trial [...] To the surprise of the researchers, the majority of the antibiotic users experienced slower healing. Furthermore, in a concurrent study in mice, the antibiotics prevented the regeneration of hair follicles after wounding.

“We tested many conditions where there were fewer or more bacteria present during wound healing, for example after antibiotic use. We found that generally speaking, normal levels of bacteria — and even bacterial infections that the body could fight off — would actually improve healing,”

Antibiotic ointments may slow healing of cuts and scrapes - Futurity

Quote

A study comparing white petroleum ointments (such as Vaseline or Aquaphor) with an over-the-counter antibiotic ointment (such as Polysporin, Neosporin or Bacitracin) showed no significant difference in wound infection rate.

Common wound care myths busted | Ohio State Health & Discovery (osu.edu)

Then I thought: well I should at least put vaseline on it to keep it moist, right? Just to be safe, I decided to look that up too:

Quote

Scientists have studied how the skin creates its own "natural plaster" to help heal [...]

Oil-based substances, such as petroleum jelly, appear to disrupt this important process, and might increase the risk of wound infection, they say in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

They found that a microscopic protein film forms rapidly over a wound as part of the natural clotting process.

Medical imaging reveals the film - made up of a substance called fibrin - has tiny pores that let air reach the wound but are too small to allow bacteria and some viruses to pass through.

[...] Adding petroleum jelly perforated the protective film.

[...] "If you get a scrape or a cut it is best to let it clot for half an hour to let the film form. Do clean it of course if it needs it, but the clot will make its own perfect plaster. After that, it might not be so bad to add petroleum jelly, but before then, from our findings, it appears to damage this film."

[...] in terms of infection risk, a concern was using petroleum jelly that had been kept in the cupboard for a long time.

"People tend to have pots that have been open for a long time and dip a finger in, which might not be clean."

Why petroleum jelly may not be the best thing to heal cuts - BBC News

So I've been using red light therapy on it:

Quote

Several studies demonstrate the benefits of low-power light therapy on wound healing. [...]

Energy absorption is the primary mechanism that allows light from LASER or LED to produce biological effects in the tissue. Light absorption is dependent on wavelength and the main tissue chromophores (hemoglobin and melanin) strongly absorb wavelengths shorter than 600 nm. For these reasons, there is a therapeutic window in the optical spectral range of red and near infrared, wherein the efficiency of light penetration in the tissue is maximum [...]

The reviewed studies show that phototherapy, either by LASER or LED, is an effective therapeutic modality to promote healing of skin wounds.

Effects of low-power light therapy on wound healing: LASER x LED - PMC (nih.gov)

It might be more effective in the morning:

Morning exposure to deep red light improves declining eyesight | UCL News - UCL – University College London

Quote

Red light therapy works by activating your mitochondria, or the powerhouse of the cell, explains Dr. Kelley. With this boost to the energy center of the cell, the cells can do their jobs—such as healing and growth—more efficiently. “Think of it as your morning coffee—red light therapy helps your cells wake up and get the job done!”

[...] it’s important to keep in mind that many of the published studies using red light as therapy are often small (less than 30 people), animal or lab studies. As a result, most medical professionals agree that more quality research with more human participants is needed. [...]


Red light therapy is showing promise when used for the acceleration of healing. Researchers posit that it is once again likely the increase in cell mitochondria activity, fibroblast proliferation,and collagen production that may contribute to this potentially positive red light therapy effect.

Red Light Therapy: Benefits, Side Effects And Uses – Forbes Health

Though multiple studies apparently do show that an occlusive covering (as opposed to gauze or no covering) and moist environment aid wound healing:

Quote

Several studies have compared wet, moist, and dry healing. A wet or moist incubator-like microenvironment provides the fastest healing with fewest aberrations and least scar formation. [...]

Dyson et al. compared the effects of moist and dry conditions on dermal repair in a porcine model [in pigs]. An adhesive polyurethane dressing was used as a moist dressing, while gauze dressing exposed to air ensured dry healing conditions. [...] Moist and wet healing environment resulted in less necrosis, faster healing, and better quality of healing than the dry environment.

[...] Manufacturers have taken the cue from researchers following Winter's postulate and worked to provide today's market with a wide range of moist dressings such as hydrocolloids that absorb the wound fluid under a semiocclusive dressing,5,14 foams,15,16 alginates,17 and hydrogels.

Clinical Impact Upon Wound Healing and Inflammation in Moist, Wet, and Dry Environments - PMC (nih.gov)

Though I don't mind scars on my knuckles... already have quite a few.

Quote

Don’t believe the hype. Band-Aids might protect minor cuts but there’s no publicly available evidence they speed up healing.

[...] it’s easy to be swayed by marketing claims on packs of adhesive bandages, and on signs in your local pharmacy, that promise faster healing.

Band-Aid’s pack of 50 plastic adhesive bandages, for instance, displays the claim the product:

Heals cuts twice as fast.


[...] But the company says these trials are unpublished and again, the company says it’s phasing out this claim.

The company continues by saying such studies are “commercial in confidence”, meaning we don’t have access to them, so none can be independently verified.

Science or Snake Oil: do Band-Aids really 'heal cuts twice as fast'? (theconversation.com)

[Slow Ben]

Mentalist, on 29 August 2023 - 06:10 PM, said:

Sliced my left thumb making salad 2 days ago.

Annoyingly, need to wait a few days before swimming again.

Told ya!!!!!

[Slow Ben]

And I know I’ve mentioned this over the years located outside of a junction box was noted. , but I always picture Ment as Eric Idle from European Vacation.



In all seriousness, that sucks man.

[Mentalist]

Slow Ben, on 29 August 2023 - 07:57 PM, said:

And I know I’ve mentioned this over the years located outside of a junction box was noted. , but I always picture Ment as Eric Idle from European Vacation.



In all seriousness, that sucks man.

the ironic thing is, this knife snapped off the (also metal) handle today, as I was trying to spread some frozen butter on toast.

Considering the whole thing is supposed to be one pressed metal item, that confused me.

[amphibian]

How uh good is your proprioception?

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Mentalist, on 29 August 2023 - 11:51 PM, said:

Slow Ben, on 29 August 2023 - 07:57 PM, said:

And I know I've mentioned this over the years located outside of a junction box was noted. , but I always picture Ment as Eric Idle from European Vacation.



In all seriousness, that sucks man.

the ironic thing is, this knife snapped off the (also metal) handle today, as I was trying to spread some frozen butter on toast.

Considering the whole thing is supposed to be one pressed metal item, that confused me.

You should probably try dissolving it in holy water.

Before it cuts off your

Spoiler

penis....

Being submerged in sufficiently sterile water without harsh chemicals might actually help the wound heal faster (provided you're only swimming gently):

Quote

The success of wet wound healing was espoused in 1861, [...] treatment of burns using "continuous baths." Patients with major open burn wounds were treated by submersion in bathtubs.

https://www.ncbi.nlm...%20progression.

Quote

research shows that soaking 7% of table salt concentration can significantly accelerate the wound healing process compared to the control group [in mice anyway]

The effectiveness of 7% table salt concentration test to increase collagen in the healing process of wound - ScienceDirect

OTOH 'Normal Regional Health System' claims (without citing any evidence):

Quote

Don't get your wound wet in the bath or shower.

This keeps the wound too wet and can spread bacteria from other parts of your body into the wound. You can keep your wound dry by using a cast/wound protector or using Press-N-Seal plastic wrap to cover the wound area then tape a kitchen trash bag over the wound/dressing. If your wound can't be protected, a sponge bath is recommended.

2. Don't clean your wound with soap or chemicals.

Don't use alcohol, hydrogen peroxide or plain soap on your wound. They can be harmful to healing skin and can slow the healing process. Instead, only clean your wound with salt water, sterile water or distilled water.

8 Tips to Wound Healing - Norman Regional Health System

However, in actual research, apparently:

Quote

The benefits of 'wet' or 'hyper-hydrated' wound healing appear similar to those offered by moist over a dry environment.

The importance of hydration in wound healing: reinvigorating the clinical perspective - PubMed (nih.gov)

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 30 August 2023 - 02:11 AM

[amphibian]

I've had a very interesting week.

The good news: Got a pay raise and that's been humbling because my boss has been pushing for me to be paid more again and again. Intern and fellow left - it got real dusty in there both times, they absolutely loved their experience working with us and are looking to come back after school. The fellow made my favorite cookies, Cricut stenciled sign language coffee mugs, and a beautiful hand drawn sign explaining the Americans with Disabilities Act for the office. The intern brought up incredible bagels from NYC and Ben's cream cheese (my name is Ben). Honored to have them work with us and we'll go to the ends of the Earth to support them. We also selected one person for an important open position we have.

The weird news: a lady I was seeing briefly sent me an unhinged and long text about how she can't date me because I am the future patriarch of my family and I have a female best friend. I said basically "ok, if you think those are reasons to leave, then they are. I spoke for 5 minutes about how I did not want to be the patriarch and my best friend's gender has little to do with the friendship beyond this being part of who she is." She responded by saying that she has insecurities and dug a huge hole for herself, there was no point in digging herself out. I agreed and we said our goodbyes. At least she was honest about this instead of sabotaging things quietly or resenting me.

The bad news that almost was: I found out that my ex posted on a local nanny Fbook group (through friends that are there for their own child) for a nanny to watch her 3 month old child. I left 9+3 months ago. I nearly threw up. We officially divorced less than two months ago. I reached out by text and asked if I was the parent. She said no. I asked for some more details - she said IVF baby and the child is a month old now, but will be 3 months old in a month (timeline doesn't exactly work out here). I wished her congratulations and asked if I was on the birth certificate. She got mad at me and told me no.

A friend who knows IVF from having undergone it says that it's very improbable for my ex to have found a clinic, gotten IVF, gotten pregnant, carried to term within 2-4 weeks of my leaving the house.

Combine the above with my ex having Bumble the dating app (for friends, she said, but disappeared for 3 hours when I asked to see the messages then showed me an empty app) in July of 2022, some shady behavior I saw for months, and I think I have enough smoke to think that there's a decent chance my ex was cheating on me and there's another guy involved. My ex would and did lie or avoid conflict often about things like this.

Anyways, this was almost a monkey's paw version of "Ben would like a child". I was in tumult even after the short conversation with the ex because the emotional impact of possibly having a child, having to be linked to my ex for my lifetime due to the innocent child, and not being told any of that was considerable. Took a full day and a half to come back down to normal, calm me.

I don't particularly have emotions about my ex having a child. She wanted one with me, yet wasn't willing to put in the work to have a relationship or sex. I think it's good for her to achieve a goal, I hope she's a far better parent than she was a partner (because the child deserves that), and I'm happy I'm not involved with her again.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 04 September 2023 - 03:07 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Crikey that's quite a rollercoaster of emotions there Amph. Glad for you that things haven't become more complicated but I hope that child is ok.

Do you think that she's lying about the child or is it more likely that she cheated? Hope you are at peace despite all that...

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

amphibian, on 04 September 2023 - 02:55 PM, said:

I reached out by text and asked if I was the parent. She said no. I asked for some more details - she said IVF baby and the child is a month old now, but will be 3 months old in a month (timeline doesn't exactly work out here). I wished her congratulations and asked if I was on the birth certificate. She got mad at me and told me no.

A friend who knows IVF from having undergone it says that it's very improbable for my ex to have found a clinic, gotten IVF, gotten pregnant, carried to term within 2-4 weeks of my leaving the house.

Could try a public records search to find out the exact date of birth?

But it's probably best to just let it go.

Of course there may be a very small chance she'll later claim it's yours and wants child support, or to leave the child with you while she's in prison (or dead, if she's dying), but beyond possibly budgeting for the first remote possibility and preparing your answer for the second, it's probably not worth worrying about.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 04 September 2023 - 06:31 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Birth records aren't public in New York though, so that wouldn't work (unless she gave birth in one of the states where they are---very unlikely---and I'd guess that if she made any social media posts indicating she gave birth before the time she told you she's probably already deleted them).

[amphibian]

Tiste Simeon, on 04 September 2023 - 06:16 PM, said:

Crikey that's quite a rollercoaster of emotions there Amph. Glad for you that things haven't become more complicated but I hope that child is ok.

Do you think that she's lying about the child or is it more likely that she cheated? Hope you are at peace despite all that...

I think it's more likely she cheated and got a child that way because getting into an IVF clinic as a patient, getting evaluated, getting the actual IVF, and then becoming pregnant within 2-4 weeks of me leaving is a very compressed timeline that would likely cost 80k+ in our area.

Much easier to do it the old fashioned way and to some degree, it mirrors what I went through in the early going with her (did not know she was not divorced, only separated from her first husband when she accidentally got pregnant early on - she agreed to an abortion as neither of us were ready to be parents).

I'm at peace with that part - the marriage was going to end because she wouldn't stop being abusive or smoking weed for 5-7 hours a day. This new component didn't add more grief or hurt for me.

[amphibian]

Azath Vitr (D, on 04 September 2023 - 07:05 PM, said:

Birth records aren't public in New York though, so that wouldn't work (unless she gave birth in one of the states where they are---very unlikely---and I'd guess that if she made any social media posts indicating she gave birth before the time she told you she's probably already deleted them).

I'm leaving this alone fully. The child's private records are not going to be accessible to me and I want no amount of interaction with my ex.

If decades from now, the child comes to find me because I am somehow the father, we'll deal with it then. Until such a day, may they have grace from all because they will likely need it.

[Maark Abbott]

Seven to eight hours of trains tomorrow. Starting from half six in the morning.

Pain

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

While I was busy watching cat videos late at night and pining over my dead cat, I spotted a small gray mouse out of the corner of my eye... it scurried away and hid.

I tried meowing loudly to scare it away but apparently I wasn't convincing enough---or it was frozen in terror, maybe had a heart attack....

In the past I'd generally only see a mouse after my cat had already been playing with it for a bit; whether running around with it in her mouth (and crazy eyes, pupils madly dilated) or tossing it up in the air; since she'd torture it for hours, I'd wait until the cat was clear and mercifully bash its brains out with the Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Hopefully the mouse will realize there's no food for it here and go out the way it came... guess it probably managed to squeeze through the bottom of the front door, even though I have thermal stuff blocking the bottoms and the sides. I went through my apartment a few years ago and sealed all the holes in the wall... don't think mice would come through the pipes.

But perhaps I should dig out my old copy of Chaucer and have it at the ready to strike. Or get a mouse trap....

O Skynet, where are our mini-Terminators for rodents, snakes, and insects? How much longer must we wait for their blithe salvation? (Oh right... they're here already, and they're called 'cats'. But no: fluffy should not have to battle cobras!)

I'd suppose the most ethical thing to do would be to use one of those no-kill traps... and then take it to the nearest cat shelter as a blood sacrifice. (Or is that the toxoplasma gondii talking again?...)